The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - Episode 103 - Fired for Being ＂Too American.＂ Reporter Claims Covering North Korea is Safer than Covering the White House. Strippers Go Digital.

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz. Let's talk about the news.

00:00:21.100 The news is that the president's condition is improving. I'll let him give you his hot take.

00:00:26.480 Here's the president. I just left Walter Reed Medical Center and it's really something very

00:00:32.000 special. The doctors, the nurses, the first responders. And I learned so much about

00:00:37.660 coronavirus. And one thing that's for certain, don't let it dominate you. Don't be afraid of it.

00:00:46.620 You're going to beat it. We have the best medical equipment. We have the best medicines all developed

00:00:52.200 recently. And you're going to beat it. I went, I didn't feel so good. And two days ago, I could

00:00:58.160 have left two days ago. Two days ago, I felt great, like better than I have in a long time. I said just

00:01:02.760 recently, better than 20 years ago. Don't let it dominate. Don't let it take over your lives.

00:01:09.500 Don't let that happen. We have the greatest country in the world. We're going back. We're going back

00:01:14.220 to work. We're going to be out front. As your leader, I had to do that. I knew there's danger

00:01:18.560 to it, but I had to do it. I stood out front. I led. Nobody that's a leader would not do what I did.

00:01:27.320 And I know there's a risk. There's a danger, but that's okay. And now I'm better. And maybe I'm

00:01:32.680 immune. I don't know. But don't let it dominate your lives. Get out there. Be careful. We have the

00:01:39.280 best medicines in the world. And it all happened very shortly. And they're all getting approved.

00:01:43.860 And the vaccines are coming momentarily. Thank you very much. And Walter Reed,

00:01:50.180 what a group of people. Thank you very much. The president is also back contributing to

00:01:54.920 policy discussion, tweeting today, repeal 230. That's section 230 of the Communication Decency Act.

00:02:02.420 It's something that we've discussed on the podcast before that there's a lot of legislation around.

00:02:07.620 Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act gives liability protection

00:02:11.720 to major technology platforms so long as they are, in fact, neutral platforms. And those,

00:02:18.040 of course, are different liability protections that are given to publishers. You know, a publisher

00:02:22.820 would be considered your local newspaper or even Fox News or MSNBC or CNN. Matter of fact,

00:02:29.240 this podcast could be considered a publication, but it wouldn't be considered a platform. It's hosted

00:02:34.860 on Apple, which is a platform. Section 230 then cloaks these platforms from threats of lawsuits and other

00:02:44.480 liabilities that they might otherwise accrue. And the consequence of that is that they've been able

00:02:50.260 to grow very large and get a lot of market dominance and, in fact, divert from the mission

00:02:55.580 of a non-biased platform to one of a curator, a publisher. Look, Apple decides what podcasts you see

00:03:02.500 and don't see. If there's a particular viewpoint they don't like, they could suppress it. You know,

00:03:08.020 Amazon could determine what type of literature you should read or should not read. And they could

00:03:13.700 suppress or enhance certain types of content. And obviously, we see on social media like Facebook

00:03:20.040 and Twitter, the willingness to self, I guess, you know, appoint as the truth monitors, as the

00:03:29.380 hall monitors of mean tweets or those who would suppress your ability to see maybe a conflicting

00:03:37.060 viewpoint, someone who has an alternate perspective. And maybe it's right, maybe it's wrong, but should

00:03:43.500 people be able to make that decision for themselves or should the so-called unbiased platform, you know,

00:03:50.600 laid out, designated in Section 230, have the right to do that for you? So I'm glad the president is

00:03:57.420 taking a strong stand against these tech platforms. I think we need a lot more transparency. And it's

00:04:02.960 one of the things we worked on in the antitrust subcommittee. That brings me to the news of the

00:04:08.580 antitrust subcommittee. There is a report coming out from Chairman Cicilline that has major agreement

00:04:15.980 on findings from Ken Buck and myself, Doug Collins, there may be other Republicans that sign on to it.

00:04:22.840 But you have a bipartisan work product, a bipartisan agreement that there are practices that are

00:04:29.460 utilized by Amazon and Apple and Facebook and Google that are anti-competitive. And there are

00:04:38.140 options to deal with that from a legislative standpoint. I think that before you change the

00:04:43.540 law, you need good enforcement of the existing law. So I think that there's work that can be done at the

00:04:47.920 Department of Justice to ensure that there is compliance with an existing antitrust law and

00:04:54.400 also that there's sufficient transparency to demonstrate that these entities are in fact

00:04:58.600 non-biased platforms and that they aren't engaged in the other conduct from the report. So we'll post

00:05:03.600 links on our official Twitter to the Cicilline report, but joined in large part on the factual findings

00:05:10.660 with myself, Congressman Buck, Congressman Doug Collins, the former ranking member of the Judiciary

00:05:15.940 Committee, a now candidate for the U.S. Senate. And there may be other Republicans that sign on as

00:05:21.020 well. We'll certainly make mention of those on social media. Check it out.

00:05:28.840 How out-of-work strippers made their show virtual and are taking the power back. That's Medica Esther's 1.00

00:05:36.200 story in the Los Angeles Times. And the story comes from a strip club in Los Angeles called Jumbo's Clown Room.

00:05:45.500 And the ladies who worked there realized that no one was going to save their business, that the model 1.00

00:05:52.780 was pretty much over in the era of COVID. And then they created a website where they put their content

00:05:58.620 online and mixed their normal dancing activity with edgy social and political commentary. They have now

00:06:07.520 shared with this reporter that creating content online allows them to be more empowered, allows them

00:06:15.440 to make more money, it allows them to avoid some of the more seedy elements of the industry that

00:06:23.360 they're in, and direct to consumer, just like a lot of other businesses. So I'm not here to either

00:06:29.520 criticize or endorse anyone's decision to do this for a living. But I do think it is an interesting

00:06:36.660 commentary on how something pre-coronavirus can change in a way that actually empowers the worker

00:06:44.640 rather than the corporate entity, right? Like probably the guy who owns the strip club or gal who

00:06:49.880 owns it or whomever is not able to move the model as fast as the working class. And so is there a way 0.94

00:06:56.840 in other elements of our commerce and other elements of our life where being more direct, being more

00:07:02.660 digital, being more connected, allows us to be more empowered and more prosperous? Are there ways in

00:07:09.240 any of our jobs where we could think, you know, that that might be a commonality? I don't know.

00:07:12.700 That's why I thought the LA Times story was interesting. Check it out. Let me know what you think.

00:07:21.780 Quite the hot take from CBS White House reporter Ben Tracy, tweeting,

00:07:26.640 I feel safer reporting in North Korea than I currently do reporting at the White House.

00:07:32.100 This is just crazy. And then he added a tweet, for context, folks, this is in reference to the

00:07:38.580 COVID-19 outbreak at the White House. So we do understand that there has been a coronavirus

00:07:44.280 outbreak at the White House. But it seems worth noting that in North Korea, they actually kill 0.99

00:07:50.280 journalists who are critical of the administration as dissidents. That is not something that is comparable

00:07:56.460 that is not something that is acceptable. All of humankind should, I think, call North Korea to 1.00

00:08:03.200 have a free and open press. But they're nowhere near that. They have a state that literally puts

00:08:10.400 your life in danger and kills you. I think at the White House, while it's been a challenging

00:08:14.520 environment, and look, it's a very small environment. I've been over there to the White House. It is not

00:08:19.120 like this big, grand, large space when you really get in there to the offices and the press room. I mean,

00:08:24.700 the press reporting room is a very small, huddled up little area where a lot of those reporters are

00:08:30.100 working on their stories. And even the West Wing offices are not large. And the conference rooms are

00:08:35.580 not, you know, any larger than a conference room you might expect at a medium-sized law firm. But

00:08:40.860 they're august and important. But it is difficult at all times to social distance in the White House. So

00:08:47.100 we will see the president, I'm sure, taking every precaution now that he's back to feeling better.

00:08:54.240 But we also, I think, should calm down a little before suggesting that working in and around the

00:09:00.400 White House is anything tantamount to dealing with reporting in North Korea on a dictatorship

00:09:06.560 that kills reporters. The Wall Street Journal has the story, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell saying

00:09:16.920 the U.S. faces tragic risks for doing too little to support the U.S. economy. He claims the recovery

00:09:23.460 will be stronger and move faster if government spending supports the economy until it is clearly

00:09:28.940 out of the woods. The Federal Reserve Chairman then lays blame at the Congress and White House for not

00:09:35.080 reaching a deal to provide additional support to households and businesses disrupted by coronavirus.

00:09:41.620 Quote, the expansion is still far from complete, Mr. Powell said in remarks to be delivered at a

00:09:48.120 virtual economics conference on Tuesday. So the Fed has printed like $9 trillion as a consequence of

00:09:57.260 our coronavirus response. They have kept major businesses in the country afloat. They've kept the

00:10:03.700 airline industry operating to the extent that they have been, you know, with still a lot of job loss

00:10:10.460 there. And there is a call here, I think, to direct additional support, you know, to the people. And I

00:10:18.900 think also I would suggest to a lot of the small businesses who maybe don't have access to some of

00:10:24.560 those Fed programs that are intended for the largest businesses in the country. Essentially, there was

00:10:29.460 there was one program that was basically set up for for Boeing, GE, those types of very familiar

00:10:36.560 companies. And there are conservatives deeply concerned about what this says about how our

00:10:42.260 nation responds. And I think there are also those who say, well, look, we've printed $9 trillion and

00:10:50.220 the dollar is still the hottest in the world. I mean, the dollar is still very strong. We have not seen the type

00:10:57.060 of inflation impact. We've not seen the type of weakening of the dollar compared to other markets.

00:11:02.820 And I think it's because when you look around the world, you know, the euro having its problems,

00:11:07.340 having to deal with likely a protracted dispute over Britain's exit. And in fact, the EU, we saw some

00:11:15.000 reporting on this, even talking about litigating with Britain over their proposed exit without a deal

00:11:22.540 and they're not in compliance with with prior versions of the deal. And so you've got the euro

00:11:26.800 that's sort of a mess, you've got the structural debt problems in China, and in the Asian markets.

00:11:32.100 And so we've been able to print money to bridge our country through this unprecedented global pandemic.

00:11:40.300 And we've survived doing so. Now, I don't think that means that, you know, you just totally let go of

00:11:46.640 the reins and allow the American dollar to become funny money. I think we've got to make sure that we

00:11:51.860 utilize that which we've already appropriated and spent. I think that we also don't want to create

00:11:57.760 the type of moral hazard, where if state and local governments make bad decisions, then there really

00:12:03.500 are no consequences because every pandemic, every challenge will justify this big backfill. Well,

00:12:09.200 you know what that'll mean? State and local governments will make more bad financial decisions. 0.78

00:12:13.160 That's the whole concept of moral hazard. So it's my expectation that we will continue to see

00:12:18.840 a lot of posturing around this until the election. While the reauthorization of the Paycheck Protection

00:12:24.540 Act would be totally bipartisan and would pass overwhelmingly, Nancy Pelosi still refuses to 0.93

00:12:31.780 allow us to take a vote on that issue. And again, you know, this is one of the major critiques I have

00:12:36.320 with Congress. It's one of the reasons why Congress doesn't really get a whole lot done in America.

00:12:40.900 issues are not given the dignity of a separate vote, and they are all wrapped up in one gigantic deal

00:12:48.940 or not. And what that does is it empowers the deal makers at the expense of everyone else and their

00:12:54.940 constituents and the country and the sound logic that comes with decision making as a body as our

00:13:00.880 founders intended. I hope we can do better. Not optimistic before the election, and the Fed chairman

00:13:07.320 says could be consequences. Read about it in the Wall Street Journal.

00:13:14.380 We found this story on revolver.news originally reported in the New York Post. Man fired for being

00:13:21.640 too American, old, and wearing khakis. A former marketing executive was chastised by his bosses for

00:13:29.500 being too American, wearing khaki pants to work, and being old. According to an EEOC complaint,

00:13:37.320 the gentleman's name, Gray Hollett, he was at Boyden World Corporation, a high profile consulting and

00:13:44.380 talent acquisition firm. 61 years old was his age. And apparently, his nationality being American was

00:13:52.900 deemed something that was derogatory, that other people were attacking him on based on on this. And,

00:13:59.880 you know, in the complaint, Hollett said, I felt quite humiliated, a dad of two, and a Long Island native

00:14:05.560 who lives in Connecticut, of being criticized for his just normal, regular business attire. No one

00:14:12.500 should be criticized or ridiculed based on the color of their skin, their nation of origin, the language

00:14:19.020 that they speak. And I think that those protections should extend to everybody. We'll follow the case and

00:14:24.480 report back on any further hot takes. The election for president is very much underway. People are voting.

00:14:36.380 CBS4 Miami has the numbers. More than 571,000 Floridians have already cast ballots for the November

00:14:43.980 election. As Monday marked the final day residents could register to vote. As of Monday morning,

00:14:50.240 571,718 vote by mail ballots had been cast with 306,037 from Democrats and 157,924 from Republicans.

00:15:04.680 About another 100,000 or so have been cast from voters without party affiliation and about 6,500

00:15:11.140 from voters with minor party affiliation. Another 4.78 million ballots were mailed out but have not been

00:15:19.140 returned with more than 2.1 million going to Democrats and more than 1.5 million going to

00:15:25.060 Republicans. So Democrats have more vote by mail ballots out. They are returning them at a rate that

00:15:32.540 has them, you know, about 150, 140, 150,000 votes ahead of the Republicans. But again, those NPAs

00:15:42.900 in Florida, you know, a lot of those sort of break to the right. So it wouldn't surprise me if

00:15:47.860 Republicans were able to cut away at the edge with some of those. But no doubt, the numbers here

00:15:52.480 showing that Republicans are absolutely going to need a huge day on election day to win the state

00:15:57.800 of Florida. That huge election day has occurred in each of the last two elections, providing just

00:16:04.720 enough margin for Governor Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott, and providing about 130,000 vote margin for

00:16:11.500 Democrats. So this is the good news for Democrats. In Florida, the good news for Republicans is that they 0.88

00:16:16.520 have substantially closed the registration gap with Democrats, Democrats choosing not to do a lot of

00:16:21.980 door to door campaigning or voter registration. Instead, you're going more with a digital approach,

00:16:28.040 Republicans beat the pavement, got the voter registration in kind of cut the Democrats typical

00:16:33.360 advantage there. And so if Republicans are able to juice that election day turnout, this is sort of

00:16:37.600 setting up for them to be able to continue to prevail, unless the Democrats can continue to build the

00:16:42.960 types of margins and vote by mail that we see now that that are very favorable. Like I mean, look,

00:16:48.480 they have a bigger vote by mail margin now than Donald Trump won the election by in the state of

00:16:53.860 Florida back in 2016. So we'll keep watching the numbers and keep giving everybody the report from

00:16:59.480 the Sunshine State.

00:17:04.360 There's a CNBC story getting a lot of attention by Robert Frank, Biden defines $400,000 a year as wealthy,

00:17:11.860 here's what it buys in big cities. Democratic presidential candidate says that his tax hike

00:17:17.420 would only affect the wealthy. He defines the wealthy as those making more than $400,000 a year

00:17:22.520 by national measures. Those making $400,000 belong to a rarefied group. They represent the top 1.8%

00:17:29.820 of taxpayers earning about 25% of the nation's income. But and then this is the controversial part.

00:17:37.040 This is where CNBC is getting some flack on social media. They say, but according to a financial

00:17:42.660 planning analysis, families making $400,000 a year aren't exactly living large, especially in

00:17:49.360 major cities. And the report goes on to detail the fact that, you know, you've got a lot of family

00:17:54.840 incomes that would exceed that $400,000 threshold, but that there are a lot of expenses that a lot of

00:18:00.560 family have, you know, that are eaten up in things like school care, child care, you know, those are

00:18:07.440 those are major expenses for a lot of families. And they're also expenses that, you know, help families,

00:18:12.640 you know, grow stronger when you're able to actually provide like, you know, funds for education,

00:18:18.300 college education, you can save for that a lot of these middle, upper middle class families by CNBC's

00:18:23.940 labeling are making those financial accommodations. That said, you know, there are still far too many,

00:18:30.460 Americans, you know, who don't have a thousand dollars in their checking account and a major

00:18:34.780 medical event, a major change to someone's job status, you know, could really wipe somebody out

00:18:40.320 and change their life in a negative way forever. And so I think that, you know, there, there is this

00:18:45.120 divide, you know, the CNBC crowd apparently thinking, well, you know, 400,000, uh, that, that by a

00:18:52.680 statistical revenue and cost standpoint, doesn't necessarily put someone in the position to want to be

00:18:58.900 paying more taxes. Uh, and then you've got the folks saying on social media, well, that's a whole,

00:19:05.620 those are, those are the type of problems that I guess the 1.8 top percent of taxpayers have that

00:19:11.120 the rest of us wish we had. So I've never made $400,000 a year. If I made $400,000 a year, uh, I

00:19:16.820 would definitely, uh, not consider myself a part of the middle class. I would consider myself very,

00:19:21.900 very privileged and very blessed. Uh, but, uh, that hadn't been the case for me. Uh, anyway,

00:19:26.920 let me know what you think. Check out the CNBC report. Thanks so much for listening to today's

00:19:32.760 episode of hot takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz. Give us a five-star rating, leave us a review,

00:19:38.240 let us know what you'd like to hear on the show and make sure to tune in tomorrow for more hot takes.

00:19:43.060 You're welcome.

The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - October 06, 2020

Episode 103 - Fired for Being ＂Too American.＂ Reporter Claims Covering North Korea is Safer than Covering the White House. Strippers Go Digital.

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